12
Acknowledgements
I
have
a
lot
to
be
grateful
for:
My
advisers:
Hiroshi
Ishii,
Chris
Csikszentmihilyi,
Bill
Mitchell,
Greg
Norris,
John
Maeda,
Dave
Newbold,
Julius
Akinyemi,
Joe
Branc,
Mako
Hill,
Sara

Wylie
The
Sourcemap
team:
Matthew
Hockenberry,
David
Zwarg,
Connie
Kwan,
Mar
Cruz,
Tim
Cull,
Mario
Maldonado,
Smita
Deshpande,
Savic
Rasovic,
Reed
Underwood,
Alex
Morris, Tony
Craig,
Geng
Tan,
Alex
Pak,
Praveen

Subramani,
Scot
Frank,
Grant
Kristofek
The
Highlands
and
Islands
Enterprise:
John
Mackenzie,
Laura
Dingwall,
Stephanie Anderson, Stephen
Tinsley,
Jock
Gibson,
Caroline Gregory,
Samantha
Faircliff
My
students:
Alex
Atwood,
Ann
Woods,
Ben
Brady,
Brooke

Jarrett,
Ella
Peinovich,
Emily
Lo,
Greg
Elliott,
Heather
Brundage,
Jeremy
Jih,
Julian
Wong,
Madalyn
Berns,
Nadya
Volicer,
Todd
Reily,
Yang Yang,
Yushiro
Okamoto,
Mio
Uchida, Gabriel
Blue Cira,
Tiffany
Chu,
Ayodh
Kamath,
Haruka

Horiuchi,
Vasilena
Vassilev,
Ethan
Lacy,
John Pugh,
Daniel
Rosenberg,
Jegan
Vincent
de
Paul,
Amit
Zoran,
Sonia
Klemperer-Johnson
My
colleagues:
Amanda
Parkes,
Hayes
Raffle,
James
Patten,
Rich
Fletcher,
Jamie
Zigelbaum,
Jean-Baptiste Labrune,
Daniel

Leithinger,
Keywon
Chung,
Paula Aguilera,
Jonathan
Williams,
Xiao
Xiao,
Sean
Follmer,
Jinha
Lee
The
experts:
Robert
Harris,
Alden Cadwell,
Sabine
Seymour,
Rich
Fletcher,
Harry
West,
Saul
Griffith,
Peter
Hall-Jones,
Allison
Campbell,
Jeff

Mendelsohn,
Rahul
Raj,
Jim
Frederick,
Gus
Rancatore,
Jackie
Ellis,
Catherine
Benoit,
Zach Nagle,
Ayr
Muir,
Dan
Williams,
Hamlin
Metzger,
Thierry
Happe,
Julien
Levy,
Marcus
Goddard,
Leila
Chirayath,
Lukas
Biewald,
Brent
Schulkin,

Joshua
Cohen,
Dara
O'Rourke,
Ziba
Cranmer,
Dan
Cherian, Vanessa
Preisler,
Banny
Banerjee,
Marc
Alt,
Maria
Moyer
Angus,
Alexandre
Daval,
Nitin
Sawhney,
Rick
Locke,
Edgar
Blanco,
Chris
Caplice,
and
Elsa
Olivetti
My

family:
Marina,
Lorraine and
Fabrizio
Bonanni,
Meiver
De
la Cruz,
Christopher
Newell,
and
George
Nickolopoulos
14
Introduction
| A
Pluralistic
Definition
of
Sustainability
A
major
hurdle
to
sustainability
lies
in
how
to
define

the
concept
itself.
The United
Nations
states
that
sustainable
development "meets
the
needs
of
the
present
without
compromising
the
ability
of
future
genera-
tions
to
meet
their
own
needs."
1
These
needs

are multi-faceted
-
environmental,
social,
and
economic-
the
"three
pillars"
of
sustainabil-
ity
2
As
the
UN's
definition
implies,
measures
of
sustainability
will
change
over
time;
they
also
reflect the
needs
of

individual
communities,
so
they
can
vary
by
location.
In
short,
sustainability
does
not
have
uni-
versal
measures:
it
is
development
that
meets the
long-term
envi-
ronmental,
social
and
economic
needs
of

communities.
Under-
standing
these
diverse
needs
will
rely
on
a
representative
system
based
on
advocacy
by
diverse
stakeholder
groups.
Life-Cycle
Sustainability
is
the
reconciliation
of
environmental,
social
and
eco-
nomic

priorities.
So
while
many
groups
have
converged
on
"carbon
footprint"
as
a
measure
of
sustainability,
comparing
products
on
global
warming
contribution
alone
could
have
negative
consequences
for
so-
ciety
and

the
environment.
A
drill
made
with
plastic gears
will
have
a
lower
footprint
at
retail
than
one
with
metal
gears;
it
might
also
break
much
sooner, requiring the purchase
of
another
drill.
Environmental
engineers

practice
Life-Cycle
Assessment
(LCA)
to
arrive
at
more
holistic
measures
of
environmental
cost.
3
These
analyses
are
qualified
by
the
length
of
life
of
products
and
the
impacts
of
manufacturing,

using
and
throwing
them
away.
So
a
LCA
might
conclude
that
a
cheap
drill
is
only
suitable
for
an
infrequent
user,
for
whom
the
additional
cost
of
produc-
ing
a

durable
drill
would
be
wasted.
1
World
Commission on
Environment and
Development.
Our
Common
Future.
Oxford
University
Press,
1987.
Available
at
/>=usa&ci=9780192820808
(Retrieved
2010-08-04)
2
Sustainability
-
From
Principle
To
Practice.
Goethe-Institut,

March
2008.
Available
at

(Retrieved
2010-07-14)
3
Giudice,
F.,
LaRosa,
G.,
Risitano,
A.
Product
Design
for
the
Environment:
a
Life
Cycle
Approach.
Boca
Raton,
FL:
CRC
Press,
2006.
Locating

Sustainability
Product
life-cycles
have
a
myriad
of
impacts
beyond
carbon
footprint:
solid,
air-,
and
water-borne
waste
and
damage
to
ecosystems
and
hu-
man
health.
Unlike
the
universal
measure
of
global

warming,
the
impact
of
these
systemic
factors
depends
on
where
they
occur.
Emissions
from
manufacturing
will
vary
based
on
the
type
of
power
plant
that
supplies
each
factory:
a
coal-burning

plant
emits
more
carcinogenic
compounds
into
the
air
than
a
hydro-power
station,
which
may
have
more
impact
on
ecosystems.
Manufacturing
also
taxes
water
supplies,
which
vary
widely
by
region.
And

some
pollutants,
like
nitrogen
oxides
(NOx),
will
have
more
impact
on
air
quality
in
an
urban
setting
than
in
a
rural
one.
4
Location
is
also
fundamental
to
determining
social

impacts.
Economic
investment
in
a
region
can
be
directly
correlated
to
life
expectancy,
so
that
manufacturing
in
certain
countries
will
raise
the
lifespan
of
its
resi-
dents,
while
investing
in

others
will
shorten
lives.
5
This
is
related
to
how
capital
is
invested
in
local
infrastructure
as
a
function
of
corruption
and
degree
of
development.
Development
plays
an
important
role

in
sustaining
culture.
One
of
the
entrepreneurs
visited
as
part
of
this
research,
a
brewer
on
the
Isle
of
Skye,
explained
how
the
consolidation
of
brewing
in
the
UK
resulted

in
the
depletion
of
cultural
resources
on
the
island.
Barley
-the
main
farmed
ingredient
in
beer-
was
once
grown
on
Skye.
But
with
the
shift
of
beer
production
to
large,

centrally-located
plants,
small
breweries
could
not
compete
and
the
barley
industry
collapsed.
The
specialized
knowledge
needed
to
grow
barley
on
Skye
has
since
been
lost,
and
brewers
today
rely
entirely

on
imported
ingredients.
The
efficiency
gains
from
large-scale
manufacturing
resulted
in
the
depletion
of
local
economic
and
cultural
resources.
A
Collective
Approach
Sustainability
is
tied
to
when
(in
life-cycle)
and

where
(on
Earth)
indus-
trial
processes
occur.
Mass-produced
products
can
have
long
lives
and
be
made
of
ingredients
from
dozens
of
countries.
Their
stories
are
de-
scribed
by
supply
chains:

the
network
of
materials,
processes
and
sites
involved
in
manufacturing
and
distribution.
Academics,
industry
and
4
Sillman,
S.,
The
relation
between
ozone,
NOxand
hydrocarbons
in
urban
and
polluted
rural
environments.

Millenial
Review
series,
Atmos.
Environ.,
33,
12,
1821-
1845,
1999.
Available
at
/>publications/Sillmanreview99.pdf
(Retrieved
2010-08-04)
s
Norris,
Gregory
A.
Social
Impacts
in
Product
Life
Cycles:
Towards
Life
Cycle
Attribute
Asssessment.

International
Journal
of
Life
Cycle
Assessment
#11,
Special
Issue
1(2006),
pp.
97-104.
Available
at:

(Retrieved
2010-08-
03)
non-profits
have
converged
on
the
modeling
of
supply
chains
to
meas-
ure

sustainability.
6
But
global
supply
networks
are
too
complex
to
be
overseen
by
any
single
group.
Advocacy
efforts have
relied
on
Multi-
Stakeholder
Initiatives
(MSI's)
to
bring
together
governments,
industry
and

NGO's
to
improve
labor
and
environmental
standards.
Some
indus-
tries
have
adopted
a
collaborative
approach
to
ensure
quality
and
tra-
ceability
in
their
supply
chains.
7
Emerging
techniques
of
user-gener-

ated
media
could
make
it possible
for
more communities
to
represent
their
interests
in a
global
discussion
of
sustainability.
The
three
pillars
-
the
economic,
social
and
environmental
needs-
could
be
defined
through

the
self-representation
of
different groups.
This
thesis
intro-
duces
an
approach
based
on
supply
chain
transparency
that
gathers
contributions
from
diverse
geographic and
professional communities
in
the
pursuit
of
strategies
for
sustainable
development.

6
JUSt
Supply
Chains
was
formed
to
"to
evaluate
different
strategies
for
improving
conditions
of
work, compensation, and
association [and]
build
a
community
of
scholars
and
practitioners
who
will
meet
regularly
to exchange
ideas

and
collaborate
on
promoting
just
supply
chains."
More
information
at

(Retrieved
2010-08-04)
The
Sustainability
Consortium
develops "methodologies,
tools
and
strategies
to
drive
a
new
generation
of
products
and supply
networks that
address

environmental,
social
and
economic
imperatives."
More
information
at

(Retrieved
2010-08-04)
7
Rx-360
is
"creating
and monitoring
a
global
quality
system
that
assures
patient
safety
by
enhancing
product
quality
and
authenticity

throughout
the
supply
chain"
More
information
at

(Retrieved
2010-08-04)
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Suspected
Supply
Chain
for
a
Laptop
Computer
February
2007
Related
Work
I
The
Black
Box
of
Supply
Chains
We
are
at
a
critical
moment
in
the

pursuit
of
sustainability:
environmen-
tal
and
social
problems
are
increasingly
evident
but
there
is
a
lack
of
information
to
guide
sustainable
decision-making.
Without
under-
standing
the
impacts
of
goods
and services,

we
buy
into
systems
that
deplete natural
resources,
worsen
environmental
and
social
problems
and
endanger
humans
and
ecosystems.
Supply chains
are
convention-
ally
held
secret,
limiting
the
stakeholders
who
can
prevent
environmen-

tal,
social
and
health
and
safety
problems.
Understanding
industrial
practices
is
essential
to
making
sustainable
decisions.
Historically,
environmental
and
social
disasters worsen
when
buyers
are
ignorant
of
supplier
practices.
This
was

the
case
during
the
disastrous
exploitation
of
ivory
during
the
Nineteenth
Century.
A
growing
European
middle
class
developed
a
taste
for
ivory
knife
han-
dles,
piano
keys
and billiard
balls. Demand
rose to

500
tons
per
year,
with
annual
slaughter
estimated
at
65,000
elephants.
8
While
it
had
once
been
possible
to
trade
for ivory
on
the shores
of
Africa,
the
growing
scarcity
of
elephants

prompted
traders
-and
their
military
escorts-
to
advance
into
the
interior
of
the
continent
in
search
of
more
material. At
the
same
time,
the end-consumers
(and
perhaps
even
the manufactur-
ers) were
misinformed
about

ivory
supplies
and
the material's
true
cost.
Towards
the
end
of
the
century
traders
began
killing
younger
animals,
prompting
the
collapse
of
elephant
populations
that
endures
to
this
day.
Miscommunication
plagues

modern
supply
chains, which
are
so com-
plex
that
they
can
be
nearly
impossible to
trace.
Consider
your
com-
puter:
inside
the
plastic-and-metal
case
are
fifty
materials
sourced in
over two
dozen
countries.
Several
of

the
minerals essential
to
semicon-
ductor
production
are
going
to
be
exhausted
in
the
short
term.
Supplies
of
Indium,
a
key
ingredient
in
LCD
screens,
are
expected
to
last
a
decade

at
current
rates
of
use.
9
Material
extraction
can
also
pose
important
so-
cial
problems.
One
third
of
global
tin
extraction
is
contained
on
two
In-
donesian
islands
devastated
by

the
artisanal
(and
illegal)
processes
8
Johnson,
Marion.
By
Ship
or
by
Camel:
The
Struggle
for
the
Cameroon's
Ivory
Trade
in
the
Nineteenth
Century.
The
Journal
of African
History
@
1978

Cambridge
University
Press
Available
at

(Retrieved
2010-07-28)
9
Cohen,
David.
Earth's
natural
wealth:
an
audit.
New
scientist,
23
May
2007.
Available
at
/>(Retrieved
2010-08-04)